Harlem Church Puts Up Yet Another Homophobic Sign

June 2, 2014

ATLAH World Missionary Church, the Harlem religious institution best known for its pastor’s peculiar fixation on homosexuality, has put up yet another floridly offensive sign, this one stating the need to “take Harlem back” from both “pinch nose sellout Negros” and “demonic homos.”

In the intervening months, Manning continued his relentless schedule of blogging, hosting a virtually non-stop podcast, the Manning Report, as well as many hundreds of lengthy YouTube videos. But he failed to recapture the public’s attention. Now he seems to have returned to his winning formula. Joe Jervis at the popular LGBT blog Joe My God was first to report the new sign, which, as you can see above, is filled with the same spirit of Christ’s love as the previous ones.

Manning has previously railed against the “pinch nose Negro,” which he defined in a May 2013 video as black people who are “alienated from the hood” and attend white people’s parties. He’s also unhappy with black people who do live in the hood, which, in his view, is a hotbed of homosexuality. Only his congregants seem safe from criticism.

The Harlem community has flatly rejected ATLAH’s attempts to speak for them. A neighboring church put up a sign to make it clear they weren’t affiliated with ATLAH, and on May 20, DNAInfo wrote about Stacy Parker La Melle, who devised her own ingenious response to the signs.

La Melle lives across the street from the church and initially tried to ignore the signs. But she grew fed up after the “stone homos” message and reached out to a parents listserv, Harlem4Kids. A group of parents began a fundraiser for the Ali Forney Center , a non-profit which provides housing for LGBT youth. They called it “No Time for Hate.”

The fundraiser, which is ongoing, has already brought in more than $13,000. The Forney Center is also planning a rally in support of homeless youth tonight at 6 p.m. at Washington Square Park. ATLAH is also planning a meeting tonight, per their sign. The agenda is unclear, but you can probably safely skip it.